{ | to a governor-general, called | { | _Yun Kwei tsungtuh_. WESTERN PROVINCES. | | | | Shensí } | Síngan fu. { | Under a governor-general, called Kansuh } | Lanchau fu. { | _Shen Kan tsungtuh_, and one | { | lieutenant-governor over Shensí. | | Sz’chuen | Chingtu fu. | Ruled by a governor-general. --------------------+-----------------+------------------------------- The province of CHIHLÍ is the most important of the whole. On foreign maps it is sometimes written Pechele (_i.e._, North Chihlí), a name formerly given it in order to distinguish it from Kiangnan, or _Nan-chihlí_, in which the seat of government was once located. This name is descriptive, rather than technical, and means ‘Direct rule,’ denoting that from this province the supreme power which governs the empire proceeds; any province, in which the Emperor and court should be fixed, would therefore be termed _Chihlí_, and its chief city _King_, ‘capital,’ or _King-tu_ or _King-sz’_, ‘court of the capital.’ The surface of this province lying south of the Great Wall is level, excepting a few ridges of hills in the west and north, while the eastern parts, and those south to the Gulf, are among the flattest portions of the Great Plain. It is bounded on the north-east by Liautung, where for a short distance the Great Wall is the frontier line; on the east by the Gulf of Pechele; on the south-east and south by Shantung; on the south-west by Honan; on the west by Shansí; and north by Inner Mongolia, where the river Liau forms the boundary. The extensive region beyond the Wall, occupied mostly by the Tsakhar Mongols, is now included within the jurisdiction, and placed under the administration of officers residing at one of the garrisoned gates of the Great Wall; the area of this part is about half that of the whole province. The chief department in the province, that of Shuntien, being both large and important, as containing the metropolis, is divided into four _lu_ or circuits, each under the rule of a sub-prefect, who is subordinate to the prefect living at Peking.